FPMT, Not Just for the West

April 1990

Interview with FPMT Board Member Chiu-Nan Lai

Q: Chiu-Nan, how did you become involved with the FPMT?

CN: I was on my way to Dharamsala two years ago and was unexpectedly rerouted through Kathmandu. I had heard about Kopan, through reading about it in some pamphlets, and I went up for a one or two-hour visit. I met some people there who were going to Dharamsala, so I arranged to travel with them. I was having some visa problems so I stayed at the Himalayan Yogic Institute, and for the whole week that I was there, I read about Lama and Rinpoche. I looked at their picture every day, and I remember just looking at especially Lama’s picture, previous Lama Yeshe’s picture, and just feeling like I knew him, you know that feeling of closeness. And then I read all the different articles they had about Lama Osel and from that I wrote a little Chinese article, which was published in Taiwan, saying there was a reincarnation of Lama Yeshe. So that was my first meeting.

Q: Being from Taiwan, were you already a Buddhist?

CN: I was brought up a Buddhist. It’s a very interesting family history actually. You see, this is something I found out recently. My grandfather who was an educator in China, was one of the first presidents of Hunan University, and he practiced according to the Tibetan tradition, which is rare actually, because usually the Mahayana tradition is more sutra path. I never met him, but he practiced the Tibetan tradition. I met my 85-year-old uncle in China last year and he still remembers the time when they used to have pujas at home. That was quite a common event to invite lamas and have pujas and like that. They all had to learn mantras, such as the Tara mantra, and do their prostrations, and offerings. As children, they all had to do that; my father had to do that.

Q: Then, how did you actually come to be on the Board?

CN: Well, I met Rinpoche in Dharamsala, on the same trip when I was re-routed, and we had lunch and I invited him to come to Houston, because that is where I lived for 10 years before going to India. And he accepted the invitation. Then when he was in America, I was asked to be on the Board. And at that time I hadn’t even taken any teachings from him (laughs). We only had lunch.

Q: Now that you have actually been to some of the board meetings, what is your understanding of the purpose of the Board?

CN: Well, I feel the FPMT is unique in the sense that it is preserving specifically the teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa. I mean, it’s not like it’s just any Buddhist teaching as such, because there are many, many traditions. Even within the Tibetan tradition, the FPMT is very specifically communicating the tradition of Lama Tsongkhapa, in terms of the practice, and integrating the teachings into one’s life.

I feel that the role of the Board is to really keep Lama’s vision or Rinpoche’s vision in sight and that vision is ultimately to benefit in whatever way possible. Sometimes when people are newly introduced to Dharma, they might get too attached to certain ideas, or limit themselves as to what can be. And I feel one of my roles perhaps is to provide the perspective of someone who was brought up in that so-called tradition, since I was five, actually, where it’s very much just a way of life, just a way of looking at things. When it’s not something you have to transplant, but you can be very relaxed about it. I think that’s important … I think the bottom line is how to be of benefit.

Q: Is the FPMT something that is just for the West? Or does the FPMT have a role in a country such as Taiwan?

CN: I don’t think the FPMT is limited to the West, because Lama Tsongkhapa’s teaching was really pretty much disseminated only in Tibet, and even though Taiwan, for example, is a Buddhist country, people are more familiar with the sutra path. Even within the sutra path, they don’t have something like the Lam-Rim Chen-Mo, where it spells out the step-by-step path to enlightenment. Sometimes people who enter Dharma in Taiwan for example, they have to read many, many texts and they don’t know where to begin to practice. And the unique thing, the really special thing about Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings is that they present the instruction in a step-by-step manner such as in the lam-rim teachings, so that people know how to begin. So definitely people in Taiwan can benefit a great deal from the teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa.